<p class="rtejustify" id="thickbox_headline">Seventy-nine school students were kidnapped on Monday in an English-speaking region of Cameroon where separatists are fighting an armed campaign for independence, a government source said.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">The students were abducted along with their principal, a teacher and a driver, the official said, as a source at the school confirmed the kidnapping of the pupils.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">They were enrolled at the Presbyterian Secondary School in Bamenda, capital of Cameroon's Northwest Region -- one of two regions hit by attacks by anglophone militants that have met with a brutal crackdown by the authorities.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">"The search for the hostages has been launched -- every man has been called in," the government source said, speaking after a crisis meeting.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">The kidnapping -- the gravest incident so far in 13 months of unrest -- coincides with an upsurge of political tensions in the majority French-speaking country.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">It comes after elections on October 7 that saw President Paul Biya, 85, who has ruled the country with an iron fist for 35 years, secure a seventh term in office.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">Biya was credited with 71.3 per cent of the vote, although the ballot was marred by allegations of widespread fraud, low voter turnout and violence.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">He takes his oath of office on Tuesday.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">Around a fifth of Cameroon's 22 million people are English-speaking -- a minority whose presence dates back to the colonial period.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">Cameroon, once a German colony, was divided between Britain and France after World War I.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">The French colony gained independence in 1960, becoming Cameroon. The following year, the British-ruled Southern Cameroons was amalgamated into it, giving rise to the Northwest and Southwest regions.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">But resentment at perceived discrimination at the hands of the francophone majority, especially in education and the judiciary, began to build.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">In 2016, demands for greater autonomy grew but met with a rebuff by Biya.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">As radicals took ascendancy, the anglophone movement declared the creation of the "Republic of Ambazonia" in the Northwest and neighbouring Southwest Region on October 1, 2017.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">No country has recognised the self-declared state.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">The separatists have gunned down troops and police, boycotted and torched schools and attacked other perceived symbols of the Cameroonian state.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">The authorities have responded with a massive crackdown by police and troops.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">At least 400 civilians have been killed this year as well as more than 175 members of the security forces, according to a toll compiled by non-governmental organisations.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">According to UN figures, 246,000 people in the Southwest Region have fled their homes, and 25,000 have sought shelter in neighbouring Nigeria, many of them living hand-to-mouth in the forests.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">Estimates of displaced people in the Northwest Region are not available.</p>
<p class="rtejustify" id="thickbox_headline">Seventy-nine school students were kidnapped on Monday in an English-speaking region of Cameroon where separatists are fighting an armed campaign for independence, a government source said.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">The students were abducted along with their principal, a teacher and a driver, the official said, as a source at the school confirmed the kidnapping of the pupils.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">They were enrolled at the Presbyterian Secondary School in Bamenda, capital of Cameroon's Northwest Region -- one of two regions hit by attacks by anglophone militants that have met with a brutal crackdown by the authorities.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">"The search for the hostages has been launched -- every man has been called in," the government source said, speaking after a crisis meeting.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">The kidnapping -- the gravest incident so far in 13 months of unrest -- coincides with an upsurge of political tensions in the majority French-speaking country.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">It comes after elections on October 7 that saw President Paul Biya, 85, who has ruled the country with an iron fist for 35 years, secure a seventh term in office.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">Biya was credited with 71.3 per cent of the vote, although the ballot was marred by allegations of widespread fraud, low voter turnout and violence.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">He takes his oath of office on Tuesday.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">Around a fifth of Cameroon's 22 million people are English-speaking -- a minority whose presence dates back to the colonial period.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">Cameroon, once a German colony, was divided between Britain and France after World War I.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">The French colony gained independence in 1960, becoming Cameroon. The following year, the British-ruled Southern Cameroons was amalgamated into it, giving rise to the Northwest and Southwest regions.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">But resentment at perceived discrimination at the hands of the francophone majority, especially in education and the judiciary, began to build.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">In 2016, demands for greater autonomy grew but met with a rebuff by Biya.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">As radicals took ascendancy, the anglophone movement declared the creation of the "Republic of Ambazonia" in the Northwest and neighbouring Southwest Region on October 1, 2017.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">No country has recognised the self-declared state.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">The separatists have gunned down troops and police, boycotted and torched schools and attacked other perceived symbols of the Cameroonian state.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">The authorities have responded with a massive crackdown by police and troops.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">At least 400 civilians have been killed this year as well as more than 175 members of the security forces, according to a toll compiled by non-governmental organisations.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">According to UN figures, 246,000 people in the Southwest Region have fled their homes, and 25,000 have sought shelter in neighbouring Nigeria, many of them living hand-to-mouth in the forests.</p>.<p class="rtejustify">Estimates of displaced people in the Northwest Region are not available.</p>